Not to prejudge, but The Monkey Bar/Johnny Thai had me suspicious from the moment I walked in the door. I went strictly for a meal, but the establishment is heavily slanted towards the video bar rather than the restaurant. Someone needs to tell the manager that even the most well-prepared meal looks like unappetizing toxic waste when illuminated under black lights. When your plate is delivered, your first thought should not be mental image from a Law & Order SVU crime scene investigation.
The waitstaff were friendly and prompt with my $8 Singha bottled beer (yeah, ouch - but this *is* P-Town). Being a single on my visit, I could only eat at the bar - obviously a bar unaccustomed to diners. My meal arrived quickly, but the bar staff haphazardly navigated a sea of empty glasses and bottles to get it to me. Meanwhile, an intoxicated townie screeched in my ear about how good her appletini was the night prior. I slid down the bar one barstool and offered her my seat on the promise that she point her exceptionally large mouth in the opposite direction.
It had been at least two years since I had chicken pad thai - a meal I had long ago cherished regularly in my grad-school days - so I was genuinely looking forward to the meal. And at $21, it had the promise of being exceptional. Unfortunately, the flavor didn't live up to the price tag. My pad thai was bland and flavorless, like someone just handed me plate of boiled rice noodles sprinkled with shaved chicken and crumbled peanuts. At least the lemon slice gave it a hint of palatability.
Johnny Thai/The Monkey Bar clearly aspires to be a video bar, as evidenced by being one of the few venues I've been to in recent memory that has the video screens synched up with the dance music thumping through the PA (because when I see Beyoncé on the jumbo flat screen, I want to hear that girl belt it!). And, for that, there is a fun atmosphere in the place. Sadly, the food did not whisk me away.
Short answer: Go for the drinks and the small, townie bar atmosphere, but pass on the food.
My husband and I really enjoy the food here and the drinks from the adjoining Monkey Bar! We come here every year and I always get myself a Singapore Sling which leaves me always a bit buzzed and order up one of my favorites: the Ahi Tuna sliders....yes, yes, a thousand times YES! The decor is fun, the service very good and the dish and drink names are a good time. I enjoy the Rihanna :) Will go back again next year!
Review Source:The sushi is great, as are the drinks, but I'm not a fan of their thai food. Â It's a very different flavor from other thai places. Â I usually like things that are different of have their own unique twist, but this one was not my favorite. But check it out yourself. Â I do love the place. Â The staff and customers are lots of fun
Review Source:Why?! Â Why!? [sob] WHY??!! Â No, that's not Nancy Kerrigan talking after getting clobbered in the knee. Â That's me talking after feeling clobbered in my mouth, throat, wallet, and stomach after eating here!!
Have you ever been served food that was so overseasoned that it was literally painful to eat? Â If not, then you should try eating here!
It's a small, dark, and very hot restaurant with a bar in the front and about 8 or 9 tables in the back. Â It was so hot and dark in there it almost felt like I was eating in the corner of the Atlantic House rather than in a premium priced restaurant.
I ordered Tom Yum Soup with their Thai Salmon dish. Â
Both items are ridiculously overpriced.
The Tom Yum Soup probably measured out to about 400 mL and it was extremely mediocre. Â It tasted like highly spiced tomato soup with pieces of fried tofu floating on top. Â It wasn't at all what I expected. Â It had so much pepper in it it was basically like eating salty, peppery hot water. Â No real flavour other than salt and pepper.
Their Thai Salmon dish is, hands down, the worst food I've had in the past year. Â It is so dark in there it is impossible to see what is in the plate in front of you. Â Literally. Â Even when I forked a piece of food and brought it to my face, I could not tell what it was. Â Nominally, it contained baked salmon with steamed veggies. Â I have no idea what veggies were actually included. Â
Tasting it didn't help at all. Â They used a thick curry sauce that was so overly abundant that you cannot taste any other food in there. Â I tasted a vegetable. Â All I could taste was curry! Â Another veggie -- only curry. Â A chunk of salmon -- more curry flavour! Â If a restaurant uses so much spice that all you can taste is spice and not the individual foods included in there, it's a sign that their food is of poor quality. Â I simply cannot stress enough how bad this was. Â I might as well have just ate a plate of curry powder mixed with a cup or two of water.
And guess what this cost? Â With tip included, it was about $46! Â Such a tourist trap. Â
I've had much better Thai meals in Boston, Massachusetts for less than half of that price. Â
And I didn't dare try to kiss anyone that night in Provincetown. Â No one wants to kiss a curry face.
Has to be the worst Thai food i've ever eaten - shocking bad pad thai made with tomato sauce!! And the red curry chicken was more like coconut onion. Steer away from this place, such a rip off too - was $120 for dinner for 2 - an absolute joke. I can't believe Americans think this place is good. I mean $27 for a pad thai?! $17 for a cocktail when much more fancy places are $9.50 on commercial road. Oh and don't expect to get a beach view - you can see someones backyard and cars there.
Review Source:I'm going to get right to the point. This might be the worst Thai food I've ever had. I ordered the Miso soup and the vegetarian drunken noodles. First, the Miso soup tasted like pure MSG and it had fried cubes of tofu in it, not exactly authentic. The drunken noodles were disappointing to say the least. Drunken noodles is a dish that is supposed to burn your face off, that's what I love about it. This had no kick and the noodles were completely limp and over cooked. The only thing good about the dish were the vegetables which seemed very fresh but the crappy sauce overshadowed the veggies. My husband was equally disgusted with his meal. He got some peanut sauce dinner also with vegetables. The peanut sauce was runny and way too sweet. Ugh....the server was really nice the only saving grace. We should have known something was up when we walked in, no one was there eating dinner, everyone was drinking at the bar. Seems like the kind of place where they serve great drinks but don't care about producing good food. I do not recommend this place at all!!! We ended up stopping a few bites in, paying the bill and leaving. We got the food wrapped up because we felt bad about leaving almost untouched food on the table but when we got outside we tossed it. Come here for drinks, not for food.
Review Source:I popped in one evening to grab take out and learned this little restaurant  is really part of Monkey Bar, which is a hit with the locals.  I have to say I was not impressed with the Pad Thai. This dish was way over thought and over priced with too many extra random veggies and the seasoning was over saturated, as if they were trying to make a Chinese dish instead. They would do better to simply.
Review Source:
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